Nuclear talks showed US enmity towards Iran – Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, said on Thursday that negotiations with the major world powers over Iran’s nuclear ambitions displayed US enmity towards the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei made his comments a few hours before the resumption of
talks between Iran and the EU in Geneva.

Iran and the EU are holding talks on Thursday in Geneva to hammer
out the practical details of the agreement reached in November.

“We had announced previously that on certain issues, if we
feel it expedient, we would negotiate with Satan (the United
States) to deter its evil,” Khamenei told the IRNA news
agency.

The November deal is designed to halt Iran’s nuclear activities
for six months before a final agreement can be reached. Under the
agreement, Iran must curb its nuclear activities in return for
some easing of sanctions, which have severally damaged the
Iranian economy.

The election in June of the pragmatically minded Hassan Rouhani
gave diplomacy a chance, although political and religious
hardliners in Tehran see the deal as an infringement of Iran’s
sovereignty. Khamenei himself had previously backed the
agreement.

Ayatollah Khamenei has stated that international sanctions have
not pressured Iran to the negotiating table.

“Our enemies do not know the great Iranian nation. They think
their imposed sanctions forced Iran to enter negotiations. No, it
is wrong,” he said.

But in reality sanctions are having an impact, with trade
seriously disrupted and oil revenues slashed.

Since the November-24 agreement, there are various technical
issues to be agreed before the agreement can be put in place.
Diplomats and Iranian officials hope to implement the deal by
January 20.

“First the interim agreement needs to be implemented. I think
that by the end of January, or at least I hope it will be
implemented. That’s the interim period,” French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday.

But issues remain over Iran’s advanced centrifuge research. Iran
says its centrifuge operations are crucial and necessary for
medical research. Centrifuges purify uranium, which can be used
in medicine, for fuel in nuclear power stations, but can also be
used in atomic weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear
ambitions are purely peaceful, but the West suspects the Iranians
of trying to build an atomic bomb.

The P5 +1, (US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) held
two rounds of talks with Iran in December, but Tehran walked out
of the negotiations after Washington ramped up sanctions against
the Iranians despite the November-24 deal.

Thursday’s meeting aims to activate the November deal and has
been endorsed by Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif,
with optimism.

“The nuclear talks are continuing with seriousness and a
strong political will,” Zarif said on his Facebook page.

Iran has consistently denied that it is seeking to develop
nuclear weapons. Iran's Supreme Leader, who is reported to have
issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, declared in 2009: "We
fundamentally reject nuclear weapons and prohibit the use and
production of nuclear weapons."